As It Falls Apart
by SweetDragonSeeker
Summary: "Are you going to kill me, Cissnei?" he asked, voice soft, and she bit back a wave of grief. Her eyes turned hard. "I don't have a choice."
1. Defect

**Don't own Final Fantasy, no matter how many times I wish. But such is life. **

**Yeah. No idea where this came from or why or anything like that. Not even sure I like it. But hey, I wrote it, so here it is. If you have any advice, it'd be welcome, though flames are not. I get the feeling this could be good if I can get the two of them in proper character, cause I don't think I have 'em quite right. Lemme know, yeah? Thanks. **

**SSS**

Back when everything was normal, before the world started falling apart, Cissnei slept better. Back then she had something to keep the nightmares away.

**sss**

"Hmm?" Cissnei roused as the arm wrapped around her waist withdrew.

"I have to go." The arm's owner murmured the words beside her ear, his fingers skimming in a light caress over her hipbone before he drew away completely. The bed shifted as he sat up, settling his feet on the floor, and reached for his clothes. Cissnei rolled onto her other side, nestling into the warmth he'd left behind. The first rays of the morning sun crept through the blinds to dance across his hair and dapple his skin, glinting off his earring, and her gaze traced over the pale scars scattered over the fair skin of his back and shoulders as he jerked on his boots. Cissnei shifted, propping herself on an elbow as he stood, pulling on his coat and shrugging his shoulders to adjust the fit before reaching for his sabre.

"Don't get yourself killed." She murmured in a slightly teasing tone. He turned to look down at her, a smirk tugging at his lips. His response was cool and confident.

"I'll survive." He bent and ghosted a kiss against her shoulder, then her lips. "Go back to sleep."

She reached up as he pulled back, letting her fingers slide through the strands of his dark auburn hair as he straightened. He left without another word, sweeping out of the room in a swirl of red. Cissnei watched him go before rolling over and burying her face in his pillow.

**sss**

In the week it took Genesis to return from his mission, Cissnei slept badly. The night he returned, he woke her from the throes of a nightmare, pulling her out of the dark, bloody dream with a fierce kiss. There were no ghost kisses that night, no barely-there caresses; and the rest of the night she spent in a deep, dreamless sleep.

She didn't wake when he left the next morning, didn't hear the words he recited when he paused in the doorway. She didn't wake until the sun was streaming brightly through the blinds. She sat up slowly, brushing her hair out of her face, not surprised to find him gone, and stretched languidly, inhaling the scent of leather and mako clinging to the sheets. Then, sighing softly, she rose to dress for work.

When Cissnei reached the ShinRa building later that morning, the whole place was alive with news.

Genesis Rhapsodos, SOLDIER first class, had defected. He had never returned from his last mission.

The nightmare Cissnei had that night, and many nights after, was the worst she'd had in many weeks; and for the first time in a long time, she suffered through every one of them alone.

**SSS**

**Bleh. Anyway, review please. No flames. Thanks so much. ~Seeker**


	2. Youngest of the Turks

**Still don't own it. **

**So. This is my second bout of Genesis/Cissnei randomness. Still don't think I have them in character, but I enjoyed writing it. Help with OOCness would be much appreciated. Thanks. **

**SSS**

The youngest of the Turks is all slight curves barely softening sharp angles. Genesis can feel those angles as he lifts her shoulders up against his knees, cradling her like a broken doll. Her comrades believe her dead, killed in the collapse, but he can feel her heart beating steadily against her ribs, several of which are probably broken. Her leg is broken too, stretching out across the floor at an odd angle, and there's a bloody cut on her forehead. She makes a soft groaning sound when he moves her, managing to make it sound irritated as well as pained as she swims back to consciousness. He gives a wry smirk at the sound, watching as she blinks open brown eyes. She doesn't seem to notice him, however, until she attempts to sit up and has to collapse back against his knees with a hand clutching at her ribcage. Then her gaze flicks up to see who she's lying on, and her eyes find his face in the gloom.

"Genesis?"

"Hello Cissnei." This time, she sees the smirk flit across his face. "It's been a while."

"Mmm." Her hand moves from her ribs to her forehead, feeling along the cut. "I thought you were dead."

His smirk widens and she pulls her hand away from her head to examine the blood on her fingers before wiping them on the lapel of her suit. "Or dying," she adds.

"Not anymore." He tilts his head, letting the milky blue light filtering down through the rubble above catch on him.

The hand resting on her lapel lifts to touch his hair, threading down from roots to tips. She doesn't comment on the fact that it's auburn again, and not grey as it was the last time she saw him. She doesn't have to. Her hand drops back to her side and she grimaces.

"How bad am I?"

"Some ribs. A leg. Your head."

"Ahh." She mumbles, closing her eyes briefly and taking a deep breath. Genesis shifts, slipping an arm beneath her shoulders and the other under her knees. Her eyes fly open, and she bites back a groan, fingers closing convulsively into a fist as he stands, lifting her with him. Her broken leg dangles awkwardly.

"Best not stay here."

"Uhh," she screws her eyes shut again and resists the urge to throw up. She's a Turk, for Ifrit's sake.

Genesis carries her through half-collapsed tunnels, turning sharp corners and murmuring under his breath. After of few minutes of his near-silent recitation, Cissnei hisses.

"Genesis. Shut up."

He chuckles, and she fells his chin brush the top of her head.

"You used to find it soothing."

She snorts, but lets her forehead fall against his shoulder, breathing in bitter mako and old leather. Somehow, the scent soothes her stomach a bit.

"That was before you were dead."

"Ah." He murmurs, and takes another sharp left. He kicks open a door and moves into the room beyond. It's remarkably undamaged, considering what's been done to the rest of the place. He lowers Cissnei to the bed in the corner and moves to dig through a chest of drawers beside the door. He can feel her gaze on his back.

"I have Cure 1." He turns, a glowing green orb held between thumb and forefinger. She looks away, hand moving to her ribs again. He mutters something unintelligible, and the pain fades, her leg straightening against the bed.

"Thank you." Her body relaxes and she hears him replace the materia, then walk slowly across the room toward her. He crouches next to the bed, boots squeaking. He's quoting _Loveless_ again under his breath, and she stares at the ceiling, listening to the practiced, even flow of his voice.

"_Even if the morrow is barren of promises…" _his gloved hand brushes her hair back from her cheek, and she inhales a long breath, still staring straight up. He sighs, and a thumb traces a line across her cheek, pausing at the dark circle beneath one of her eyes. She turns her head to face him, and he quirks a slight smile as her eyes slip closed and she succumbs to her body's need for sleep. Cure 1 fixed the breaks, but it'll take time for her to regain her full strength. He leans forward and brushes a light kiss against the newly healed skin of her forehead. "_Nothing shall forestall my return." _

**_sss_**

Cissnei wakes the next morning in her apartment, lying in her own bed with the covers draping around her shoulders. She sits up slowly, stiff but not sore, and brushes back her hair, staring at the cityscape sprawling outside her window. Her duvet is dusted lightly with black feathers. She picks one up, spinning it between her fingers, and glances back out the window at the dawn.

**sss**

"Cissnei!" Reno's hug when she walks into work later that day is over-enthusiastic, but not inappropriately long like it would be if she were Elena; he knows better. Where the blonde would become flustered and embarrassed, Cissnei'll grin and punch him in the gut. "You're not dead!"

"No thanks to you." She smirks, shoving him in the chest and absolving all three of her colleagues of guilt at the same time. Elena takes Reno's place then, bestowing Cissnei with a brief squeeze, and Rude nods, placing a hand fleetingly on her shoulder.

"So, what happened to you?" Reno demands as they head for the elevators, his arm slung around her shoulders. "How'd ya get out?"

Rude presses the 'up' button and all three look at her expectantly. She shrugs.

"You guys owe me a drink."

They laugh and ask no more.

**SSS**

**So? Not sure about it still. But it was fun! The first part of the scene probably takes place in Deepground or some such place. And why is Elena in the fic? Because I wanted her to be. **** Anyway, review! No flames! Thanks so much. ~Seeker**


	3. Choice

**Yeah, I don' own it. Really. **

**So…this is probably set around the time Genesis and his goons attack Zack so that they can *gasp* eat his hair! Only minus the goons, plus Cissnei, and some other minor changes. So, AU, I guess. **** Didn't mean for it to turn out so…bitter, might be the word I'm looking for. Still, I'm actually quite pleased with it. Anyways, enjoy, review, and don't flame. Thanks! **

**SSS **

Zack's blood soaked into her boots as she crouched down beside him, her fingers finding his pulse beneath his jaw. It beat erratically against her fingertips, and she nodded her head slightly. He would live. Withdrawing her hand, she wiped the blood off on the corner of her suit jacket before lifting her chin to stare across his unconscious body at his adversary.

Genesis returned her gaze, jaw tight and his sword held loosely in his gloved hand. His wing curled close to his shoulder, a shield of dark feathers, and she swallowed.

"What happened to you?"

He gave her a wry, pale imitation of his usual cocky smirk and shrugged one shoulder.

"I'm dying."

"So you tried to kill him too?" she demanded. Her grip tightened on the shuriken in her hand, knuckles going white.

"I hoped he held the cure." His eyes darkened, though with anger or shame she couldn't say, and he looked down at the young SOLDIER lying between them. "I was wrong."

"That's not an excuse." She rose slowly to her full height, and raised her shuriken. His eyes followed her as she moved, but his grip on his saber remained relaxed.

"Are you going to kill me, Cissnei?" he asked, voice soft, and she bit back a wave of grief. Her eyes turned hard.

"I don't have a choice."

This time, there was sorrow in his wan smile as his eyes slid over her.

"I know." And then he was jerking sideways to avoid the blades of the shuriken as it whistled past. Leaping over Zack's prone form, Cissnei snatched the weapon out of the air as it swung back past. Holding it up defensively, she turned a slow circle, searching for her vanished opponent.

"Where-" her words broke off as one of his arms slid around her shoulders, pinning her arms to her sides. She swore under her breath, and his arm tightened a fraction.

"I don't want to hurt you, Cissnei," he murmured, lips grazing the top of her ear. She hissed.

"Let go of me."

He sighed into her hair, then ducked his head and brushed a light kiss against her jaw. She felt more than heard him whisper an apology against her skin before something hard hit the top of her skull and she crumpled, darkness spiraling in at the edges of her vision. Distantly, she felt herself being lowered slowly to the ground beside Zack as she fought the oncoming blackout.

"Genesis," she mumbled hazily, reaching out as she felt him slide his arm out from under her shoulders.

"Shh," he caught her hand, placing it to rest on the ground at her side. Then, with a touch of his lips against her forehead and a whirl of air beneath his wing, he was gone.

Groaning, Cissnei rolled slowly onto her side and tried to regain her feet, trying to ignore the vicious throbbing of her head. Failing, she slumped back against the pavement and focused on the cold metal of her shuriken still in her hand and the sound of Zack's shuddery breathing as oblivion continued to loom. Black feathers danced against the blue of the sky, melding with the dark swirls still floating across her vision. She watched the feathers flutter down, one by one, as her own personal nightfall finally descended, her consciousness ebbing away. A single tear slipped down her cheek.

**SSS**

**So…whatcha think? No flames. Thanks! ~Seeker**


	4. Fragile

**Yeah, still don't own it.**

**So this is an alternate version of the last scene I posted, which was an alternate version of the bridge scene in-game. Enjoy. **

**SSS**

She's a fragile thing. He's always known it, deep down, but it's never really registered in the forefront of his mind until now, as he stands holding her lifeless body in his arms.

Zack is standing a few feet away, eyes wide and sword held up defensively even as he stares around the blade. For a moment, Genesis ignores him, focusing instead on the prone form cradled against his chest. Blood soaks the young Turk's once-white shirt, as she gazes at the blue sky beyond his shoulder, eyes blank and glazed. She feels cold in his arms.

Zack distracts him, slinging his broadsword onto his back and reaching down to pick up Cissnei's shuriken from where it had fallen. Genesis watches him in silence, his jaw clenched.

Cissnei had stepped between them as they fought. Whether her intent had been to stop them or to aid one or the other, Genesis isn't sure. No more is he sure which of their swords struck her down.

Zack is turning the shuriken in his hand, knuckles almost white against the metal, and Genesis tucks Cissnei's head under his chin, staring darkly at the younger SOLDIER.

"You owe her your life." he informs him coldly. Zack raises his eyes, hands stilling, and, slowly, nods. He was losing; they both know it. If not for Cissnei, he would be dead by now. For her, Genesis will let him go. At least for now.

He turns on his heel, spreading his wing, and hears Zack step forward. He pauses, glancing over his shoulder at the boy.

"This can't be over." Zack says quietly.

"It is for now." there's finality in his tone, and he turns away again.

"where are you taking her?" Zack speaks again, and Genesis' answer is almost lost in the wind as he spirals into the sky.

"Home."

**SSS**

**So. Where 'home' is is up to you. Hope you enjoyed. Don't know what it is with the bitter Genecissnei lately. Sorry bout that. They just seem to work that way right now. Least it's not uber-fluff. **** Review! ~Seeker**


End file.
